Washington's Intelligence Test

As commander in chief, President Obama must take responsibility for and defend surveillance.

By

L. Gordon Crovitz

June 23, 2013 6:14 p.m. ET

'If people can't trust not only the executive branch, but also don't trust Congress and don't trust federal judges to make sure that we're abiding by the Constitution with due process," President Obama said earlier this month in defense of the National Security Agency, "then we're going to have some problems here." Mr. President, we have some problems here.

These problems, however, are not the fault of the NSA. As more information comes out about how surveillance works, it's becoming clearer how Americans...